Can video games improve your health? Rhode Island researchers are starting a $2.5 million research project comparing active video game playing to a trip to the gym.

The Wii game consoles helped put the get up and go into video games and now researchers from Brown University and the Miriam Hospital in Providence, RI are exercising a new theory: that so-called "exergames" give you the same workout and health benefits as going to a gym.

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Emerging research shows a single session of video game exercise that's done vigorously may offer the same aerobic benefit as other physical activity. At the Miriam's Behavioral and Preventive Medicine Center, researchers are putting that to the test: comparing traditional exercise to exer-gaming.

"One group will come in and do the Wii for an hour. Others will come and do standard exercise, walking on a treadmill and an aerobic exercise program. The last group is the control group," said researcher and physiologist Dr. Joseph Ciccolo.

Researchers will measure body composition, which is how much fat and muscle you have, as well as cholesterol and cardiovascular fitness at the start and end of the study.

"First we want to look at if the Wii can give us the same metabolic and cardio results as the standard exercise program," said Ciccolo.

Researchers also wonder if participants will exercise more with Wii than traditional workouts because it's more fun.

"The more important thing is to get them to be regular exercisers," said Ciccolo.

All 300 participants will get weekly health assessments and be paid for their time. The workouts run for three consecutive months. Then participants return 6 months later for the final checkup.